Our World, My World

Happy Monday,

September has flown by for me, it's been busy with lots happening. Our son's wedding is this weekend. We are looking forward to the wedding and welcoming a daughter into our family. I wish them much happiness. 

Some images from around my yard, we still have some flowers blooming like the Morning Glories, Lantana and the Upright Fuchsia. 

I am guessing at this id, a female Black-throated Blue Warbler. She has been hanging around feasting on the berries. Sometimes I see her on my deck railing enjoying some of the peanut suet balls. 

The male House Finch has been a visitor in the yard recently.  

As of 9/26 I am still seeing the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in my yard. 

Our walks have been on the local bike trail, below are some scenes from our last walk. 

Me and my shadow at the bike trail. 

Some days we can walk on our local fire road trails, our weather is still summer like. Warm days and no rain. 

I am not sure what these berries are called, the red stems are pretty. 

I always enjoy this local trail, we are lucky this is in our neighborhood and there are no hunter's trucks parked nearby. 

Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there. 

Thanks to Cath the host of Country Scapes

Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Saturday's Critters #302

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

For better viewing, click on the photos to enlarge them.


The Icelandic Sheep and horses were seen on all our tours. Sheep farming exist in all areas of the country. Sometimes our tour drivers had to slam on the breaks because the sheep would cross the road.

Every September Iceland has a sheep roundup. The roundup was due to happen soon after our trip ended. The sheep are free to roam high in the mountains to eat. Before winter sets in the sheep are rounded up and put back into the farm sheds in the valleys. Volunteers and even tourists enjoy this sheep roundup, it is almost like a party. It is a group effort with people on foot, horses, with dogs and 4 wheelers. 

These Icelandic Horses were seen closeup during one of our tour stops. The Iceland horses are best known for their 5 gaits, most horses only have 3. They are a smooth ride. 

I tried taking photos of the barns and animals as we drove past many farms in Iceland.  A couple horses off the the right look like they were battling. 

 Below some Icelandic Horses are toward the center and left side near the trees.  

Another Iceland farm, with Icelandic Sheep.  The plastic wrapped hay is seen on every farm we passed. It was nice to learn, the plastic used for wrapping the hay is re-cycled and made into plastic poles you see along the roads. I have to say again Iceland is a very GREEN country.  

Most farm animals found in Iceland now are descended from animals brought by the 10th century Scandinavian settlers. 

The farm animals are called Icelandic because they are hardy and have adapted to Iceland's climate. That includes the sheep, horses and cattle. 

This farm had dairy cattle.  Some cattle are raised for beef, but mostly are dairy cattle. 

European Starlings were a common sight to see around Iceland.  I heard and saw a few different birds on this day, no luck getting photos or ids.

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments !






Here is a list of my linky parties; I have a couple of different linky parties this week. Check out the memes below: 

Tom's Barn Collective on Sunday 

Cath's linky party called  Country Scapes   on Tuesday

Happy Thankful Thursday

Happy Thankful Thursday!

EDIT: I am linking up with Favorite Fotos thanks to Lydia at Where the Wild Things Were


After our wet Glacier Lagoon boat ride, our last stop of the day was at the Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls. YAY and thanks for the sunshine! Can you find the people walking on the trail that goes behind the waterfall? 

Hubby took the trail that went behind the waterfalls.  

While hubby was taking the waterfall trail that went behind the falls, I took shots of the waterfalls and the Northern Fulmars.  There were groups of these birds in different spots on the cliff around the waterfalls.

The Northern Fulmar, a gull-like seabird. They are neat looking birds with their yellow beak with odd looking nose tubes. 

A view of the sunset, looking toward to coast from the trail and waterfall parking lot. 

I was thankful the rain stopped! We were able to see a pretty sunset during our last stop of our tour. 


I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday




Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!

Our World, My World

Happy Monday,

I am sharing another day tour from our Iceland trip. This tour was 14 hours round trip from Reykjavik to the South Coast and the  Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon. We stopped at two waterfalls and at the Black Sand Beach in the town of Vik. Our tour also included a boat ride on the Glacier Lagoon. 

Temps on this day were mid 50's to 60°. It always felt warm with the sun shining. Our first stop was at the Skógafoss Waterfalls. The spray from the falls felt like rain.

The town of Vik was our lunch stop and our dinner stop. Behind the restaurants and souvenir shop was the Black Sand Beach. I saw some Black-headed Gulls and there
were some Pelagic Cormorant near some rock formations. 

One stranger among the Black-headed Gulls. 

I know I am reaching for this id, but I am guessing beside a gull  the other birds are the European Shag. 

After eating, I walked around outside and found these cute White Wagtails on the parking lot.

The White Wagtail is a lifer for me, yay! 

Looking out the bus window, there were many waterfalls seen on the cliffs. Also, on the cliffs I could see the Northern Fulmars and there were actually some sheep seen high up on the cliffs. 

At the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, we went on a lagoon boat tour. It was neat to ride past some of the icebergs. It rained during our boat tour, I was told by the guide there were some sea ducks and seals in the water. I only saw them from a distance. With the boat moving and the rain, photos with my camera was not happening. Hubby took these with my iphone. 

A view of the icebergs from the shore. The icebergs are pieces of the glacier breaking off and floating in the lagoon. 

Now that we were back on the bus, the sun and sky cleared up. This is a view of the Glacier. The black line on the right side is volcanic ash from the past eruptions.  

Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there. 

Thanks to Cath the host of Country Scapes

Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Saturday's Critters # 301

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!


If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

More from the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and Iceland's coast.

Gulls fly by, I am not sure of their id.

The Arctic Terns were seen along the rocky beaches on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula.

I am just guessing at this duck, a Scaup? Edited, thanks to David this is the female Tufted Duck below. 

Gull id's are difficult for me, the juveniles and adults look so different. Perched nearby is the European Shag, id corrected with thanks to David. 

A group of European Shag.

Northern Fulmar

A friend helped with this id, the Velvet Scoter. 

I appreciate and thank everyone who links up their post and for all the wonderful comments !






Here is a list of my linky parties;

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

Happy Thankful Thursday!

This post is a little backwards, I am starting off with a tour on the morning of Sept 4th and ending with an evening photo from Sept 3rd. I wanted to mention the temperatures while we were in Iceland, every day it was in the mid 50's-60's°. When the sun was out it actually felt warm. It was cold at night, in the mid 40's.

Sept 4th, we took the Golden Circle tour, we stopped at the Geysir Geothermal Area, next was the Gullfoss waterfall and last we went to  the Thingvellir Nat'l Park.

This Geysir Park is a smaller version of Yellowstone Nat'l Park in the USA.  We had some drizzle off and on during this day, mostly just cloudy skies. 

Below is the second stop of the tour at the Gullfoss Waterfalls.

I could feel the spray from this waterfall from my high up view point. 

The last stop was at the Thingvellir National Park, this park is where we watched the Northern Lights the night before. The park is located in a rift valley where the Eurasian and North American Tectonic Plates separate.

We had some drizzle during the day but heading back to the hotel I saw a rainbow from the bus.

Sept 3rd, after an all day tour we had a Northern Lights tour booked for that night. We were picked up 9:30 pm  at the hotel and driven outside the city to a nearby national park.  We watched the Northern Lights for about an hour, it took me awhile to adjust my camera to catch the colors of the Northern Lights. Below is the best I could do, the lights went across the sky in an arch almost like a rainbow. The bottom right light is a vehicle parked selling hot chocolate and waffles. 

I am thankful to see the Northern Lights, both on the plane to Iceland and at the park in Iceland.  There is no guarantee to see the Northern Lights, again we were lucky. They are an amazing sight to see. 

I am thankful for all your visits and comments. 


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday




Thanks so much for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!